Background
Federal agencies receive funding through a series of appropriations bills. A number of these bills — including those that fund the Department of Defense, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education — have been approved for the federal fiscal year that began October 1st. As a result, those agencies are not being affected by the partial shutdown of the federal government.
Agencies Affected
However, appropriations bills that support other agencies — including the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Commerce, the State Department, the Interior Department, the Commerce Department, and the Department of Housing & Urban Development — have expired. These nine departments are directly affected by the shutdown, although some units within these departments remain open because they are funded by money that is not subject to congressional appropriations, or their services are deemed “essential,” or because they can operate with what is known as “carryover funding.”
The shutdown has special implications for federal contractors, including vendors competing for federal contracts. The contracting offices of the agencies affected by the shutdown may be closed. In some cases, these agencies have issued stop-work orders to their contractors. Listed below are details.
Should vendors submit bids during a government shutdown?
- Here’s what the experts have to say: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2018/12/should-vendors-submit-contract-bids-during-government-shutdown/153803/
Some government contractors could go unpaid even after the shutdown ends
- How you might be affected: https://www.businessinsider.com/government-shutdown-2018-will-government-contractors-get-paid-2018-12
Employers can’t use E-Verify system during shutdown
- The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees the E-Verify program, announced that the website www.e-verify.gov is not available to employers during the current partial government shutdown: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=769346
What vendors learned from the last government shutdown
- Do you remember the three-day shutdown in Jan. 2018? Here are some lessons learned: http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?articleid=666774
Signs point to extended shutdown with no deal emerging quickly
- So far, little progress has been made in breaking the stalemate: https://www.nextgov.com/cio-briefing/2018/12/signs-point-extended-shutdown-no-deal-emerging/153824/
